Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of Antisocial Tendency, Emotional
Instability and Suicidal Ideation among Juvenile Delinquents in Bonga Town Prison. To do this
across-sectional survey design was conducted in this study conducted in Bonga town prison in
Southwest Ethiopia. The questionnaire is standardized scale and had five point Likert scales. One
sample t-test, independent t-test one way ANOVA and Pearson Product Moment correlation
Coefficient were used to analyze the quantitative data. The finding of the study showed that 55.6%
juvenile delinquents were convicted as criminal for more than 4 years. Juvenile delinquents
showed as having antisocial tendency with M=3.92 (SD=.24),t(243)=.59.74, p<.01, Emotional
instability with M=3.67 (SD=.31), t(243)=32.78, p<.01 and Suicidal ideation M=3.60 (SD=.38),
t(243)=24.72, p<.01; 72.3 %. The juvenile delinquents were single parents (53.3%) or orphans
(18%); 66% of the juvenile delinquents were urban residents and 65.16% were male; 30.3% of
the juvenile delinquents were arrested for theft, 18.9% were for harassment, 15.6% were for
fighting, 12.7% were for destroying property, the rest 22.5% were arrested for killing, hurting
others, homosexual, rape and abduction. There is statistically significant positive relationship
between Anti-social tendency and Emotional instability r(242)=.42, p<.01; between Anti-social
tendency and Suicidal ideation r(242)=.29, p<.01 and Emotional instability and Suicidal ideation
r(242)=.41, p<.0;Emotional Instability statistical significant predictor of Antisocial Tendency
F(1,242)=51.83, p<.01 with Beta = 0.42, t = 7.20, p< .01.and it explains 17.6% of the variance
in the juvenile delinquents’ antisocial tendency. Similarly, emotional instability significant
predictor of suicidal ideation with F(1,242)=48.67, p<.01, Beta = 0.42, t = 7.20, p< .01 and it
explains 16.7% of the variance in the juvenile delinquents’ suicidal ideation. In addition to this
the necessary suggestions have been made to the responsible organs regarding the emotional
instability, antisocial tendency and suicidal ideations.
